“God save the king”, read a banner wielded by Barcelona fans at the start of the game, accompanied by an image of Messi celebrating after the extraordinary 6-1 triumph over Paris St Germain last season.

While Barcelona’s 3-0 last 16 second-leg win over Chelsea on Wednesday to complete a 4-1 aggregate victory did not need to live up to the incredible comeback against PSG, Messi delivered another performance for the ages.

The 30-year-old missed Saturday’s 2-0 win at Malaga after the birth of his third son, Ciro, but returned to fire Barcelona into the quarter-finals with two goals as well as setting up Ousmane Dembele’s first for the club.

Messi broke the deadlock after two minutes and eight seconds, the quickest goal for his career, when he slotted the ball through Thibaut Courtois’ legs from a tight angle.

A majestic solo dribble shredded Chelsea’s defence before Messi played in Dembele for the second and the Argentine maestro killed the tie off when he smashed a third through the legs of Courtois again in the second half.